Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly declined to rule on a Google antitrust complaint against Windows Vista's desktop search function.

Instead, she indicated she would rely on attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice and various states if they feel that the search function won't permit adequate user choice.

"The plaintiffs, as far as I'm concerned, stand in the shoes of the consumer," Kollar-Kotelly said at a conference. She added that Google "is not a party to the case."

Microsoft says, for its part, that it is addressing Google's concerns by adding an option for Vista users to choose more than one default desktop search. Yet Google has been maintaining the changes aren't going to be enough.

To that, the judge indicated that a more thorough brief than Microsoft has filed so far regarding the changes might be helpful in allaying Google's anti-trust concerns.